Friday Eye Candy: All of World History on One Chart

Who needs four years of costly undergraduate education in History (sorry Mom & Dad) when you can just consult John B. Sparks' "Histomap" of 1931. Writing in Slate's "The Vault" blog, Rebecca Onion looks at the 5-foot-long guide to world history.

1 minute read

October 4, 2013, 2:00 PM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj

Section of John B Sparks' Histomap of 1931

图表汇 / flickr

"This 'Histomap,' created by John B. Sparks, was first printed by Rand McNally in 1931," notes Onion. "This giant, ambitious chart fit neatly with a trend in nonfiction book publishing of the 1920s and 1930s: the 'outline,' in which large subjects (the history of the world! every school of philosophy! all of modern physics!) were distilled into a form comprehensible to the most uneducated layman."

"Sparks followed up on the success of this Histomap by publishing at least two more: the Histomap of religion (which I’ve been unable to find online) and the Histomap of evolution."

FULL STORY: The Entire History of the World—Really, All of It—Distilled Into a Single Gorgeous Chart

Monday, August 12, 2013 in Slate

History / Preservation Humor World Histomap World History John B. Sparks View More

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